Monday, March 31, 2008

London – A shake-up of the natural cosmetics industry is expected to begin this year as a number of natural & organic standards are introduced. Organic Monitor (www.organicmonitor.com) sees 2008 as a defining year in which the adoption of private standards leads to a clear demarcation between pure natural / organic cosmetic and pseudo products. The growing number of certified products - clearly distinguished by logos and symbols – is expected to strengthen consumer confidence in natural & organic cosmetics.

The most important development this year will be the introduction of European standards of natural and organic cosmetics. which are likely to apply to the POMEGA5 products. The leading certification agencies in Europe have been working on harmonization of private standards for over a year.

The European standards will be unveiled in June 2008 and be implemented by the end of the year. This development would give certified natural & organic cosmetic products uniform logos for the first time. The successful implementation of these standards could pave the way for EU regulations for natural & organic cosmetics, similar to those for organic foods. The EU introduced formal regulations for organic food production and marketing in 1992.

Whilst the agencies with the leading natural & organic cosmetic standards in Europe are working on harmonization, other groups are developing their own standards. Various private standards are being introduced by certification agencies, industry groups and retailers.

Most developments are occurring in North America.

NSF International, which has been developing its natural personal care standards for a number of years, will finally unveil its standards this spring. At the same time, the Organic and Sustainability Industry Standards (OASIS) for beauty and personal care products will be introduced by a trade group that includes manufacturers like Pomega5, Aveda and Hain Celestial. Private standards have also been introduced by Certech Registration, a Toronto-based standards agency.

NaTrue, an industry group that represents natural cosmetic companies, has recently announced that it is also developing its own standard. The group plans to introduce its natural cosmetic standard later this year, and will also lobby the EU for legal protection.

Retailers are also developing their own standards for natural & organic beauty products. Whole Foods Market has just announced its Premium Body Care Standard to separate its products from inferior naturals. British retailers have already introduced natural personal care ranges under their private labels. Boots has also developed its own standard for its Botanics Organics launch last year.

Private standards are being introduced to differentiate pure natural & organic cosmetics from competing products that contain low levels of natural ingredients and high levels of synthetic chemicals. The industry, realizing that standards and logos are important to build consumer trust, however appears to be dividing in terms of developing these very standards. The number of standards is proliferating, however it will ultimately be consumers that decide what standards and logos will succeed.

The Pomega 5 soap collection

Organic Monitor will be giving various seminars and workshops on natural & organic cosmetic standards in the coming months. Please visit www.organicmonitor.com or contact us for more details.

About Organic Monitor

Organic Monitor is a business research & consulting company that specialises on the global organic & related product industries. Since its formation in 2001, Organic Monitor has been providing a range of business services to operators in high-growth ethical industries. Our business services include market research publications, customised research, business consulting and workshops. Visit us at www.organicmonitor.com

You may be right, according to a study published this week in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.

Ontario researchers analyzed the effect of dieting on 42 people, including 20 couples and one father-daughter duo, and found that while many partners felt their dieting spouses had a positive influence on their eating habits, others felt rejected and even tried to sabotage their significant others' weight loss efforts.

Of the unsupportive spouses, some refused to alter their junk food habits, while others made snide comments.

"She'll sit down and eat a bag of cookies right in front of me," one dieter said of his wife.

One man refused to touch his wife's vegetarian cuisine, another tempted his wife with wine, which led to cheese and crackers and sabotaged her dieting efforts.

Gertrude is using Omega 5 oil products on a daily basis

Judy Paisley, the study's lead author and an associate professor of nutrition at Toronto's Ryerson University, said many husbands feel rejected when their wives stop cooking in an effort to slim down, while female dieters sometimes become upset when their husbands refused to eat their new diet cuisine.

Still, others felt threatened by the thought of having a slimmer spouse who might ultimately reject the relationship as their confidence grows and waistlines shrink.

The moves were expected. In a regulatory filing Monday, Ethanex Energy said it would seek bankruptcy protection.

Ethanex Energy listed $1.85 million in assets and nearly $849,000 in liabilities. Ethanex Southern Illinois, which was involved in a joint venture to build an ethanol plant in southern Illinois, listed $450,502 in assets and $1.37 million in liabilities.

Ethanex Energy at one point planned to build three ethanol plants. Instead, the company has ceased operations and canceled an agreement to buy a small ethanol facility in Nebraska.

“I think the capital markets were the biggest problem, and coupled with high corn prices — I see absolutely no reason for corn to be trading above $5 today — it has led to this sad state of affairs,” said Al Knapp III, who was Ethanex’s president and chief executive officer until his resignation Wednesday.

The ethanol industry has been battered recently by surging prices for feedstock corn, the source of most ethanol, and lower ethanol prices resulting from oversupply.

Ethanex entered the ethanol business in 2006 amid a veritable ethanol gold rush, when corn was selling for less than $2 a bushel and ethanol was selling for between $3 and $4 a gallon. Most ethanol plants convert about one bushel of corn into roughly 2.8 gallons of ethanol, so the prices ethanol and corn are now fetching have left ethanol producers with extremely thin profit margins.

“The operating margin was fantastic a couple of years ago. People rushed into the industry when they were making in excess of $1 per gallon operating profit. … As the price of corn went up without a corresponding increase in the price of ethanol, we’ve seen that spread decline,” said Todd Alexander, an attorney who represents ethanol companies, including Ethanex.

“What that has done is put pressure on the marginal producers in the industry. Overall, the industry is fairly healthy. Profit margins are nowhere near what they were, but projects that were thinly capitalized, or sited in the wrong place, or bet the wrong way on the price of a commodity, or had construction difficulties — those types of projects are the ones that are really in trouble.”

There were roughly 50 ethanol plants nationwide in 1999. Today there are 139, with others on the drawing boards, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, a trade association for the ethanol industry.

Ethanex became a public company in mid-2006 when it merged with an existing business that was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fledgling operation announced plans to develop three ethanol plants in the Midwest with a combined annual production capacity of 300 million gallons.

Ethanex initially raised $20 million in a private stock offering, which Knapp said it spent for real estate in Illinois, technology licenses, engineering and construction contracts, development and permitting costs, investments in Ethanex’s proposed projects, salaries and other costs.

In November 2006, Ethanex said it had secured environmental permits needed to begin construction of a 132 million-gallon plant in southeast Missouri, adjacent to a corn mill under construction by SEMO Milling LLC. Ethanex and SEMO formed a joint venture to develop the plant, which was to be built by Chevron Energy Solutions Co.

A year later, though, the outlook for the industry had changed markedly. The Missouri proposal fell through, and Ethanex put off plans to raise capital for a proposed plant in Waltonville, Ill. Instead, it decided to buy a 28 million-gallon plant in Nebraska and retrofit it with new technology.

“By mid-2007, we’d crossed the line where you could buy a facility for the same amount as it would cost to build a greenfields facility,” Knapp said.

In mid-2006, it had been cheaper to build a plant than to buy one, owing to soaring ethanol prices. That changed when ethanol prices plummeted.

The Sutherland, Neb., plant was built in 1991 but never performed to expectations. After lenders foreclosed on a second group of owners, the plant was sold to Midwest Renewable Energy LLC, which agreed to sell it to Ethanex in a deal valued at $220 million in cash and Ethanex stock.

But that deal fell through when Ethanex proved unable to raise $1.5 million in interim financing.“There was a perception in the marketplace that the industry was overbuilt,” Knapp said.

Troy Gavin, the plant’s general manager, said Ethanex’s bankruptcy would not interfere with the plant’s operations nor with plans to expand production from 28 million gallons to 120 million gallons a year.

“We knew Ethanex had to raise some operating capital, and the ethanol industry is pretty tough right now,” he said. “We’re seeing $5.50 a bushel corn, and a lot of lenders that were pretty excited about it a year ago, or even four or five months ago, have backed away.”

Ethanex’s prospects weren’t helped when it discovered last year that its corporate attorney had bought unregistered shares of its stock in private transactions and then sold them illegally at huge profits.

The attorney, Louis W. Zehil, was fired by his law firm and now faces criminal and civil charges of securities fraud. Zehil allegedly carried out the same scheme with the stock of Kansas City-based Alternative Energy Sources Inc., another ethanol producer, and five other ethanol companies.

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Knapp said the discovery of Zehil’s alleged malfeasance delayed the filing of its registration statement for the stock, which in turn led to its having to pay a $600,000 “registration rights” penalty to shareholders.

“When this came to light, I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “I’ve never been so fooled by an individual in my life.”

The SEC complaint against Zehil charged that he bought 3 million shares of Ethanex’s unregistered common stock for $3.75 million and sold them for $12.3 million.

The ethanol boom dates to 2005, when Congress mandated the use of renewable fuel in gasoline. The industry remains heavily dependent on government subsidies.

At least two other local ethanol producers have been adversely affected by the soaring price of corn and the declining price of ethanol. Earlier this year, Alternative Energy Sources, which was formed around the same time as Ethanex, said it had dropped an option to buy land near Kankakee, Ill., where it hoped to build one of three 110 million-gallon ethanol plants.

And E3 BioFuelsLLC of Shawnee, an ethanol producer with a plant in Nebraska, filed for Chapter 11 protection late last year.

Friday, March 28, 2008

LOS ANGELES, California -- The Transportation Security Administration said Friday its officers at a Texas airport appear to have properly followed procedures when they allegedly forced a woman to remove her nipple rings -- one with pliers -- but acknowledged the procedures should be changed.

Mandi Hamlin, at center with attorney Gloria Allred, demonstrates how she removed her nipple ring.

The woman involved -- Mandi Hamlin -- told reporters earlier Friday she was humiliated by last month's incident, in which she was forced to painfully remove the piercings behind a curtain as she heard snickers from male TSA officers nearby. The incident occurred at the Lubbock, Texas, airport.

The officers "rightly insisted that the alarm that was raised be resolved," the TSA said in a statement posted on its Web site Friday afternoon. "TSA supports the thoroughness of the officers involved as they were acting to protect the passengers and crews of the flights departing Lubbock that day."

However, "TSA has reviewed the procedures themselves and agrees that they need to be changed," the statement said. "In the future, TSA will inform passengers that they have the option to resolve the alarm through a visual inspection of the article in lieu of removing the item in question."

Hamlin and her lawyer, celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, said they want a public apology from the agency, as well as a guarantee that future passengers with piercings will be treated with dignity and respect.

Allred pointed out that TSA's Web site says passengers with piercings can undergo a pat-down inspection if they do not want to take their piercings out -- an option she said Hamlin was never offered.

"The conduct of TSA was cruel and unnecessary," Allred told reporters at a news conference. "Last time that I checked, a nipple was not a dangerous weapon."

She said if an apology was not forthcoming, "Mandi is going to have to consider her legal options."Attempts by CNN to reach Allred for a response to the TSA statement Friday afternoon were unsuccessful.

TSA said in its statement it acknowledges "that our procedures caused difficulty for the passenger involved and regrets (the) situation in which she found herself. We appreciate her raising awareness on this issue and we are changing the procedures to ensure that this does not happen again."

The incident occurred February 24 as Hamlin, 37, was preparing to fly to Dallas-Fort Worth from Lubbock, where she had been visiting her elderly great-uncle.

Hamlin said she also has navel and ear piercings and has never set off a metal detector or been singled out for additional screening at an airport.

She did not set off the metal detector at Lubbock International Airport, but was pulled to the side for additional screening, Allred said. A hand wand used by a TSA officer beeped when it was waved over her breasts.

Hamlin told the officer she had nipple piercings, Allred said, and that officer called over another officer, who told her she would need to remove them.

"Ms. Hamlin did not want to remove her nipple piercings," Allred said, reading from a letter she sent TSA. "After nipple rings are inserted, the skin can often heal around the piercing and the rings can be extremely difficult and painful to remove. In addition, once removed, the pierced skin may close up almost immediately, making it difficult and painful to reinsert the piercing."

More officers were called over, and the group grew to four male and two female TSA officers, according to Hamlin. Also, a small crowd of onlookers had started to gather. The officers insisted that Hamlin remove the nipple rings, Allred said.

"She felt humiliated by the scene that the TSA officers were making," Allred said.

"With tears streaming down her face, she again asked to show the piercings to a TSA officer instead of having to remove them. She was told, however, she would not be allowed to fly unless she removed them. Had she been told that she had a right to a pat-down, she would have chosen that option."

She eventually was taken to a private area behind a curtain to remove the piercings, Allred said. One came out easily, but the other would not, and she called to an officer that she was having trouble and would need pliers. She was handed a large pair, Allred said.

"As Ms. Hamlin struggled to remove the piercing, behind the curtain she could hear a growing number of predominately male TSA officers snickering in the background," Allred said in the letter.

"Mandi Hamlin was publicly humiliated. ... Clearly, this is not how passengers should be treated."

Afterward, Hamlin underwent another scan, but realized she had forgotten to remove her navel ring. She offered to remove it, Allred said, but an officer told her it was not necessary because he could see it. Hamlin wondered why a similar visual inspection of her nipple rings would not have sufficed, Allred said.

In a statement earlier Friday, the TSA said it "is well aware of terrorists' interest in hiding dangerous items in sensitive areas of the body. Therefore, we have a duty to the American public to resolve any alarm that we discover."

TSA included in its statement a picture of a prototype training device it will use to simulate a "bra bomb" in training and testing its officers.

Hamlin said she had to visit the person who originally pierced her nipples to get the rings reinserted, and said the process was excruciatingly painful because of the scar tissue that had formed.

"People who are pierced should not be snickered at, should not become the object of ridicule, should not be singled out for special and uneven and unequal treatment," Allred said. "They should be respected just like everybody else."

She said she had received a call from TSA's public affairs office Friday morning. "We hope that means they're going to jump on this and do something about it," she said. "We want TSA to do the right thing now. We're going to give them the opportunity."

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Beside recharging our batteries, does getting some Shut-Eye or Beauty Sleep have other benefits? Is it true that getting enough beauty sleep contributes to our beauty?

According to some recent studies, Canadian women, on average, sleep less than 6.5 hours, which is far less than the 8 hours our doctors prescribe. The consequences to lack of beauty sleep can be far more dangerous than some dark circles: as a result, these same women are more likely to suffer from chronic health disorders. Sleep and a good night rest is vital to our health and well-being: Form fending off wrinkles, to controlling your body weight, here are some important reasons why you need to make sleep a priority.

If you suffer from dull complexion, chances are, you are not getting enough "beauty rest"; the reason is simple: Lack of sleep ages the skin faster! It is during the deeper half of a two-stage sleep, the "delta sleep", when the growth-hormone levels are at their highest, and direct cells to repair damaged skin, giving us that healthy glow. When we skip this procedure, not only are we skipping the regenerative process (pre-mature aging won't be repaired) but our stress-hormone (Cortisol) reach high levels, and make the skin look older. Omega 5 oil products will help beautify your skin,

Another benefit that sleep and rest bring to the body is the facilitation in loosing weight. Sleep deprivation will result in higher appetite, because the levels of leptin (the "feel-full" hormone) are decreased, while the levels of ghrelin (the "feel-hungry" hormone) are increased. As a result, studies have shown that people who sleep less than 5 hours at night are more likely to be overweight, as they tend to be more tired and less active during the day (therefore burning less calories).

Lack of sleep will also affect the mind and the learning process. In students who trade a good night sleep for a all-night cramming study session, for example, it has resulted in lack of memory, as they might forget up to one-third of everything they learned that night (even days before). A good night sleep, on the other hand, will boost brain power.

There is also a reason why people who lack their 8 hours of beauty sleep seem moody; it's because people who sleep and get a good night rest, tend to feel better about life in general, and have a better attitude. Lack of sleep has been linked to depression, as a matter of fact, people who suffer from depression and insomnia share similar symptoms: irritability, fatigue, lack of concentration, dark thoughts and increased sensitivity to pain.

Can a good sleep however prevent sickness? Now that the winter season is approaching, a good sleep will help us ward off colds (more so than taking vitamins). A good night beauty sleep boosts the immune system, and our defenses against winter ailments. When we are sleep-deprived, we produce abnormal high levels of cytokines (proteins that send messages between cells), which can cause delays in the healing process. Consider this: when you sleep well, skin is repaired by antioxidants, which will reduce the risk of developing skin cancer. Further more, people who get 7 to 8 hours of good night sleep, have the greatest life expectancy.

It is safe to say, then that a good night sleep is vital to our beauty and well-being, the prescription? Let's make it a priority, if your busy schedule doesn't allow you to get enough beauty sleep at night, make some changes, after all, your life depends on it!

POMEGA5 oil capsules for the skin

As women we know that a lack of sleep leaves us irritable; however most of us are unaware of the damage it may be doing to our skin? Besides being an essential component of a healthy lifestyle, getting 8 hours of sleep per night helps improve the texture and the luminosity of our skin. During the night the skin is restored from the harmful effects of daily stress. When we do not get the required sleep our skin suffers. This is especially noticeable in the fragile skin under the eyes. The under eye area is almost fifty percent thinner than the skin on the face. Sleepless nights leaves behind fine lines, dark circles or puffy bags. Cosmetic treatments can soften the effects of sleep deprivation but preventive medicine is the best cure. Eye treatments are limited in their ability and cannot reverse the stress that a lack of sleep will do to the skin.

Sleep experts say that we need 8 hours of sleep per night. However, the latest research shows that women average 6 hours and forty minutes of sleep during the week and 7 hours on the weekend. Besides the extra work that women have to contend with (helping with homework, laundry, cooking, etc.) and the many concerns that keep them from sleep, women are also be kept awake by - small children who wake during the night, teenagers coming home late, aging parents who get up during the night.

What can we do to sleep more peacefully and longer? Here are some hints:

Having a big belly in your 40s can boost your risk of getting Alzheimer's disease or other dementia decades later, a new study suggests.

It's not just about your weight. While previous research has found evidence that obesity in middle age raises the chances of developing dementia later, the new work found a separate risk from storing a lot of fat in the abdomen. Even people who weren't overweight were susceptible.

That abdominal fat, sometimes described as making people apple-shaped rather than pear-shaped, has already been linked to higher risk of developing diabetes, stroke and heart disease."Now we can add dementia to that," said study author Rachel Whitmer of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California.

She and others report the findings in Wednesday's online issue of the journal Neurology.

The study involved 6,583 men and women who were ages 40 to 45 when they had checkups between 1964 and 1973. As part of the exam, their belly size was measured by using a caliper to find the distance between their backs and the surface of their upper abdomens. For the study, a distance of about 10 inches or more was considered high.

The researchers checked medical records to see who had developed Alzheimer's or another form of dementia by an average of 36 years later. At that point the participants were ages 73 to 87.

There were 1,049 cases.

Analysis found that compared with people in the study with normal body weight and a low belly measurement:

• Participants with normal body weight and high belly measurements were 89 percent more likely to have dementia.• Overweight people were 82 percent more likely if they had a low belly measurement, but more than twice as likely if they had a high belly measurement.• Obese people were 81 percent more likely if they had a low belly measurement, but more than three times as likely if they had a high measurement.

Whitmer said there's no precise way to translate belly measurements into waist circumference. But most people have a sense of whether they have a big belly, she said. And if they do, the new study suggests they should get rid of it, she said.

A group session about POMEGA5 benefits

It's not clear why abdominal fat would promote dementia, but it may pump out substances that harm the brain, she said.

Dr. Jose Luchsinger of the Columbia University Medical Center in New York, who studies the connection between obesity and Alzheimer's disease but didn't participate in the new work, cautioned that such a study cannot prove abdominal fat promotes dementia.

But the study results are "highly plausible" and "I'm not surprised at all," he said. High insulin levels might help explain them, he said.

Dr. Samuel Gandy, who chairs the medical and scientific advisory council of the Alzheimer's Association, said the results fit in with previous work that indicates a person's characteristics in middle age can affect the risk of dementia in later life.

And it's another example of how traits associated with the risk of developing heart disease are also linked to later dementia, he said.

Yet there are a few scenarios that can throw even the best of lovers for a bit of a loop. Typically involving tears, fluids or noises, some situations prove themselves to be more unnerving than others.

It’s no wonder, then, that lovers may find themselves freaking out over any of the following situations:

Crying During Sex

It is not uncommon for individuals, usually women, to cry during or right after sex.There could be any number of reasons for this reaction. On a psychological level, your love may be emotionally moved by the intensity and closeness of the experience. Or, on a much different note, your partner may be having a distressful flashback, which involves some sort of sexual trauma.

Sex therapists and researchers William Hartman and Marilyn Fithian proposed a physiological explanation for the shedding of tears. They proposed that since an orgasm is triggered by deep stimulation to the uterus and strong uterine contractions, then the involuntary sobbing may be due to the vagus nerve in the brainstem being stimulated. This causes a ripple effect that triggers a cricopharyngeal reflex in the throat.

The practice of Tantric sex further explains this phenomenon along the lines of “energy dynamics.” During lovemaking, emotions stored in the body are loosened and freed by sexual energy.

No matter what the reason for crying, don’t freak out. Be loving, accepting, and supportive of your partner. If you need to figure out the “why,” save it for later.

Laughing During Sex

Like I said above, sex involves the release of different emotions and sensations, many of which reach explosive levels. As you venture through the sexual response cycle, your entire body is dealing with tension that keeps building for a different sort of orgasmic discharge.

If you or your lover laughs, that too, is normal. A giggle’s escape is the energetic release of this crescendo. This is a perfectly natural occurrence, and may happen again. Don’t take it as insult, but have fun with it! After all, Inuit Eskimos referred to sex as “laughing time!”

Lack of Lubrication

Although a rough ride in the sack is typically a titillating thought, getting on board is anything but when the treacherous terrain is a woman’s vaginal canal. Most women will experience dryness, even to the point of irritation, at some point in their sex careers. This could be due to:

— Lack of lubrication -- for example, a lack of foreplay— Lack of desire— Hormones, such as birth control or pregnancy-related issues— Where she is at in her menstrual cycle— Stress— Drugs (medications, alcohol, or illegal ones such as marijuana)— An infection— Aging and menopause

If the problem is sidelining your sex life, consider the above issues and have your lover schedule an appointment with her health practitioner to address potential medical issues. Also, it may be worth investing in a lubricant.

Experiment with different types of sexual thirst quenchers, such as water-based or silicone-based ones, to find out which works best for you. This is typically a temporary problem.

Bleeding During Sex

If a woman isn’t due to have her menstrual period, then couples can freak at the sight of blood during intimacy. What lovers need to know is that every time a woman’s vagina is penetrated, she experiences microscopic tearing. Depending on how long it has been since she has had sex, vaginal bleeding may be due to penetration or thrusting. Other reasons include:

If a woman is simply spotting, don’t worry -- there may be nothing wrong. If she is concerned, however, she should plan to be examined thoroughly by a health practitioner who can get to the root of the issue.

Sex With the Lights On

A flick of the switch can change everything. Lovers who were once completely uninhibited are suddenly seeing each other in a whole new light. Scrambling for cover, they find themselves in a bit of an Adam and Eve-type bind – fully exposed.

When it comes to getting naked with a new partner, people are split down the middle on feeling confident versus embarrassed – and having the lights on or off.

Often, having the lights on or off depends on how well you know your partner and how long you have been in the relationship. Those who are for having the lights on often prefer it for the visual appeal.

Yet, having the lights off can be also be nice since there is a certain vulnerability we feel when getting naked and being intimate with somebody. For some people, a dark room can have reasons ranging from body image issues to finding it sexier, more intimate, and less inhibiting.

If you find yourself suddenly blinded by the light, instead of worrying, step up and put on a good show. After all, someone wants you in the limelight for a good reason.

Unexpected Discharge

Where did that wet spot come from? Whether it’s damp sheets or full-on water works, sex is sometimes disrupted by a phenomenon known as “ambrosia,” or more colloquially, “female ejaculation.”

Neither lover knows what just happened, but the automatic assumption is that the woman has lost her bladder.

Don’t assume the woman has become a bed-wetter. What she actually experienced is believed to be a natural reaction of the Skene’s glands, the prostatic tissue around the female’s urethra.

Some experts believe that the Skene’s glands expel a scentless fluid, like that of the male’s seminal fluid, during orgasm. This fluid is most triggered by G spot stimulation. It is for this reason that Tantric practitioners have long referred to the G spot as the "Sacred Gate."

Pomegranates -- the source for Omega 5 oil

Allergic Reaction

Stinging, itching, swelling, blistering, a burning sensation ... These aren’t exactly the reactions you want to be having in the boudoir.

If you or your lover experiences any of these, go ahead and freak out, but not too much.

It may be an allergic reaction to a product you are using during your private play time, such as spermicide or latex. A woman can become allergic to her partner’s semen, too.

If either one of you is experiencing any of these symptoms, this is probably one time where a visit to the doctor would be beneficial.

In the Know Sex News…

— Germany considers banning brother-sister sexual intercourse. Germany’s top constitutional court has ruled that siblings who engage in sexual intercourse can be prosecuted. Motivated by a case involving a man who has four children by his younger sister, lawmakers have cited the need to protect the family order and the weaker partner in such relationships.

— Male circumcision does not protect against some STDs. Circumcising males does not provide protection against chlamydia, genital warts and herpes, according to a study in the Journal of Pediatrics. However, other research has indicated that there is a significant statistical difference in rates of HIV between men who are circumcised and those who are not.

— Survey finds that 90 percent of parents want comprehensive sex education in school. A phone survey conducted by the University of Minnesota of approximately 1,600 parents have found that an overwhelming majority want educational efforts to provide information on pregnancy prevention in addition to abstinence. Researchers commented that parents supported courses, regardless of their own race, religion, or personal politics.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Women not only outnumber men online but also rely on the Internet for the conduct of their daily lives - so much so, that two-thirds (66.1%) of online women say their lives would be disrupted if they were left without Internet access for a week, according to a recent Burst Media survey.

Some 66.1% of surveyed women say their daily routine would be disrupted - and 43.6% say significantly so - if internet access were not available for a week, according to Burst, which in June surveyed some 1,800 women age 25+ who visit content sites.

Those findings were consistent among women of all surveyed age segments and similar among all household-size segments, Burst reports.

Among household income (HHI) segments, 77.9% of those with HHI of $100,000+ say their routine would be disrupted without access, according to the survey.Â Burst found that over 80% of surveyed women were online during most dayparts:

Morning and afternoon are mostly for work:

Four out of five online women go online between 7am and midnight.

53.1% of women 65 years and older say they are online before 7am.

All age segments are online 7am to noon (41.0% primarily for work, one-third for personal use) and noon to 4 p.m. (40.1% primarily for work, one-third for personal use).

Those who say they are online for personal use increases to 52.0% between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. (when one out of 10 is online for family purposes)

70.8% say they are online for personal use between 7 p.m. andÂ midnight.

Women have dibs on home computer use:

Two-thirds of women (66.3%) say they are first in line to use the home’s computer.

Among the remaining one-third, 60.9% say another adult is first in line; 39.1% say children are first in line.

However, 81.3% of women in two-person households say they are first in line to use the home computer.

Only 54.8% of women in households of 3-4 members, and 52.2% in those with 5+ members, say they are first in line to use the home computer.

Product research the internet is the most important medium, according to the Burst survey:

For products they might purchase, 54.5% of online women say the internet is their primary source of information.

Family and friends (10.9%), newspapers and magazines (9.9%), television (5.8%), brochures/pamphlets (5.1%), and radio (1.3%) all trail significantly behind.

Among women 65+, three of 10 (31.8%) say the internet is their primary product-information resource.Half of women have shopped online; travel and clothing top list of purchases, according to Burst:Over half of women (54.1%) say they shopped online in the previous six months; a similar proportion say so among all age and household size segments.

HHI is a determinant: 48.7% of those reporting HHI of less than $35,000 say they had shopped online, compared with 68.0% among households with income of $100,000+.

The results of “How America Searches: Health & Wellness” suggest that online resources, particularly general search engines, healthcare portals and a range of social media, play a central role is steering consumers toward care and treatment options, iCrossing said.

For publishers to take full advantage of opportunities to connect with in-market health consumers, content must be available in and optimized for a range of formats, and ideally should comprise a truly interactive component that allows consumers to socialize, according to the firm.

To maximize relevancy, content should be oriented around the health topics that most preoccupy consumers, such as symptoms, treatment, conditions and wellness issues such as exercise, nutrition and weight loss, iCrossing concluded.

Among the key findings of the study:

Internet is the most widely used resource for health information. 59% of adults use online resources to obtain health and wellness information. 55% go to their doctors and 29% talk to relatives, friends or coworkers.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Impressive" results were published of apilot study investigating the effects of an herbal therapy and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) as an integrated approach to fight cellulite [Adv Ther 2001 Sep-Oct;18(5):225-9].

Cellulite is the body's way of storing fat in women to ensure enough calories for pregnancy and lactation. Fibrous membranes that lay between deposits of soft tissue work to gather fat into discrete pockets. These bands of connective tissue run from the dermis to deeper layers of connective tissue that separate muscles from organs, and allow the skin to dimple and become irregular [American Academy of Dermatology].

For the study, 60 women were assigned to three groups; one, taking an herbal anti-cellulite pill alone, and two other groups taking the herbal pill plus 400 mg and 800 mg of CLA, respectively.At the trial's conclusion, there were "visible but minimal" improvements in cellulite appearance in only two women who took the monotherapy and an average loss of 0.33 inch of thigh circumference. Eleven women in that group showed no improvement, the investigators wrote.

In the group taking the combination therapy with the lower dosage of CLA, eight women showed improvement in cellulite appearance, but ten showed none. Thigh circumference decreased an average of 0.58 inch.

However, of the women taking the combination treatment with the highest dosage of CLA, eleven showed improvement in cellulite, two displaying "marked improvement." The average loss in thigh circumference was nearly one inch.

"...The results obtained with the CLA supplement were more impressive and occurred in a higher percentage of participants," the study authors concluded.

POMEGA5 contains CLA

Best way to rid self of seriously awful cellulite, short of surgery?

As I lurch through my thirties, I find myself carrying around some serious cellulite on my thighs.

And arse. And... arms and belly. Knees even. I swear to god, one minute I was 21 and sort of plump but relatively firm and the next, in my thirties, wobbling and sagging like some kind of terrible 'before' makeover picture.I know this might seem like shameless-vanity filter, but it really is distressing me. I'm posting anonymously because it's screwing with my head.

I feel horribly embarrassed and ashamed, to the point of tears and refusing to take my clothes off, and turning down invitations to go swimming, or to the beach.

This isn't just a bit of cellulite, or a little wobble, it's... awful. Really. I feel borderline deformed.

So far I've been:1. Cutting out caffeine (tea, coffee, coke, red bull, V etc).2. Cutting back on processed food. (Main vices have been chocolate and icecream.)3. Stuffing myself with moderate portions of fruit, veg, wholegrains and protein.4. Exercising like a mofo, starting with weights 3 x a week, walking and swimming and building up (slowly*) to add in cycling and running5.

Taking a multivitamin daily.*Slowly because I want these changes to stick and also my knees are buggered.I already drink 2-3 litres of filtered water daily and have done for a couple of years. My skin improved immeasurably zit-wise, but it did nothing for the cellulite. Unless, I suppose, it could be worse.I've done a fair bit of googling about creams and lasers and diets and exercise and things, but there's not much that isn't advertorial.

And so, hive mind, I ask what (if anything) you have done for your dimples - that has worked?1. Supplements (apart from the obviously not-very-good for you fen-fen and the like)?2. Creams? (Head tells me total bunk, but hope springs eternal.)3. Endermologie, lasers?4. Healthy eating and exercise? (This seems like the obvious one to me, but about how long 'til you saw improvements?)

And I have the obligatory anon gmail address if anything comes up here that needs a reply: lonesome dot thighway at gmail dot com.Last, could I pre-empt anyone suggesting that referring to myself as deformed is a little extreme? I know.

But that's how I feel. I also know I should learn to love myself for the beautiful unique snowflake I am. And I'm working on that. For now, I'm just looking for advice on reducing cellulite. posted

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Perhaps you don't meet people in the course of your daily life, or you're not connecting with the right type of person. First of all decide what you have to offer to a future partner, by working out what sort of things interest you and on your appearance by using POMEGA5 products.

No one is going to like all these options, but they are ways of widening your circle of friends.

1. GOLF

Golfing is a male activity, get lessons and join them on the course. Men network on the golf course all the time, take it further and progress to flirting. Even if you are not good at sports, the men will most often be encouraging of your efforts.

2. GO TO A SPORTS BAR ON GAME NIGHT

Why watch big sporting events at home when you can hang out a sports bar complete with big-screen TV, electronic sports games?

This is a particularly good way to meet people if you are sporty yourself, impress the guys with your knowledge. Sport is a participation event and it is a lot more fun watching in a group than alone.

3. VOLUNTEER TO WORK FOR A NON PROFIT ORGANISATION

People who are prepared to give a little of their free time are often very caring people, capable of passion and commitment, there are loads of group activities, that mean you can widen your circle of friends, with the same interests. There is always the possibility of a relationship progressing to a date.

4. JOIN A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN

If you are politically inclined and have an interest in which you are prepared to give up some time, this is a good way to find a date. Not only that but you can be sure if you have both joined to fight for the same cause, then you have at least one thing in common. If it does not work to find a date than you have lost nothing, but will have at least widened your circle of friends.

5. EVENING CLASSES

You do not have to be academic here, it is not necessary to study Physics. Find out about something that you have always wanted to learn. Take the time to study another language, or do something "arty". Art classes depending where you live, cover a very wide base from sculptor, to water colors. Men can always be found in a class about car maintenance etc.

6. TAKE SOME CRITICISM FROM YOUR FRIENDS

Marketing yourself to find a mate is not always easy. Take some advice from friends who have embarked on a successful long term relationship. If you are always attracting the wrong sort of person, ask a friend why they think that is the case. If you have a healthy emotional life, you should spot fairly on in a relationship that someone is going to hurt you. Realise your own worth, some women do really believe that they are not worthy of being loved. Boost your self esteem. If low self esteem is a problem, then try and look at the tip below.

7. ENROLL IN A SELF-IMPROVEMENT WORKSHOP

Men sometimes tend to be more into self improvement than women. However, any body who has taken the steps to enrol and participate in this type of activity are probably sensitive, the chances are they are also looking to interact with other sensitive people. It's a great way for men to find out how women think. Be positive you may not meet the man of your dreams but will probably have boosted your self esteem.

8. JOIN A GYM

Even if you are fit and healthy you can always find men in a gym. If you are not fit, then getting fit is a great way to boosting you self esteem. Being fit gives you a better outlook on life and you feel much better. You are also more relaxed when you look your best.

9. READ "IF THE BUDDHA DATED," BY CHARLOTTE KASL

Buddha means the enlightened one, or one who is awake. Kasl gives you the best advice about how to make, but very significant changes in your life. Part of her advice is to literally make room for a partner in your life. If you have a single bed get a double, if you have only one pillow buy more. She also has some great tips for attracting new people in your life. This isn't mandatory by any means but it will appeal to you once you start reading.

10.STAND BACK AND TAKE STOCK

Men are not lost souls, they are not hiding away. You will have far more chance of connecting with someone if you are personally fulfilled. If you are into sports big time consider competing in a marathon. Take a creative writing course, change you career. Make yourself happy, and have some fun

11 JOIN A HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Even small towns have historical societies, which will search and record the local events in your area in the past. Most of the will probably be male.

12. GET COOKING

O. K. so you know how to cook, often men do not and they will join a cookery class. This is a good one - believe me.

13. LEARN HOW TO PLAY POKER

Most poker players are men, find out how to play, and then join a game.

14.GO TO A BOOK SIGNING

Here is were you can guarantee that you will find someone with similar interests and intellectual pursuits.

15. MAKE MEN FIND YOU BY USING THE BEST SKIN CARE: POMEGA5

Since the earliest days of mankind, a woman can show a man she is interested in him, the smart one's let him think he is doing the chasing. This is the twenty first century and you can show a man you are interested in him. Catch his eye and then immediately look away, but then look back at him. If he finds you attractive, he will think he has fond you, and will most often make a move.

Go out there, get your own omega 5 oil products today and make a difference in your life.